In certain applications and environments it is desirable to lock two doors with a single lock situated at the center of one of the doors. In those instances there exist many types of latches that allows for the latching of the door opposite the lock. One such latch is a manual slide action latch that requires the user to reach behind the door and manually latch or unlatch the door opposite the lock. In another example, a latch will automatically actuate when the door with the lock on it closes, thereby latching the opposite door. In both such cases, the door opposite the lock needs to be closed first. In the latter case, closing first the door with the lock and then the opposite door will result in a crash (physical contact) involving the latch that may damage the latch mechanism and possibly the furniture (or other associated structure).
A variety of approaches have been previously published relating to consideration of locking or latching plural doors, involving or not a center post or similar. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 7,458,621 to Fujihara et al. entitled Door connector; U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,701 to Carter et al. entitled Safety cabinet; U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,071 to Picard et al. entitled Mortise latch vertical rod exit device; U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,437 to Borgmeyer et al. entitled Transformer having an integral cabinet with door latching and locking apparatus; U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,643 to Ahad et al. entitled Door closing and locking mechanism; U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,981 to Stewart entitled Collapsible cabinet; U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,146 to Weinerman entitled Sliding door lock; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,463 to Benevenuta entitled Closure device for container doors. The complete disclosures of the foregoing listings are incorporated herein by reference, for all purposes.
The present disclosure offers a solution for such problems which allows the doors to be closed in any order (including both doors simultaneously) without a crash and with automatic latching.